5. RBAC (mostly) manageable through ECPYou can now create role groups through the ECP (Exchange Control Panel) and assign roles, role assignment policies, and so forth for RBAC (Role Based Access Control). You still need to create new roles through the EMS and custom write scopes in the EMS as well, but this is one step closer to a fully functional graphical RBAC.

6. Exchange Online coexistence supportThis will be exciting when Exchange Online is able to work with it, but at least the Exchange 2010 SP1 side is ready.

7. New tools for Unified MessagingIf you check out the Toolbox, way down at the bottom past the Performance tools, you'll find two new tools called Call Statistics (which provides aggregated statistical information about calls forwarded to or placed by UM servers) and User Call Logs (which provides call logs for a selected user for the last 90 days). Both tools are welcome additions.

8. Personal archive provisioning to a different databaseThis one is easy to appreciate. Your mailboxes are likely residing on expensive high-end SAN, and with the RTM version of Exchange 2010, you would have the archive sitting in the same database, ultimately on the same SAN, a deal breaker for some. Now, you can put the archive mailbox in a different database, and that database can reside on the cheapest JBOD disks you can find (if you want).

9. New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdletThis cmdlet can help with the detection and repair of mailboxes and databases that might have corruption trouble.

10. AD split permissions supportSome organizations divide the group that handles Active Directory from the group that handles Exchange. There is a checkbox during the install process that allows you to automatically separate the two permissions sets for your Exchange admins and your AD admins.

This is just the tip of a very large iceberg. There are a ton of additional features that are worth reviewing, some of which may jump out as being more important in your environment than many of the ones I have listed here. If so, let us know in the comments section which SP1 features you like the most.

And if you have features you want to see in SP2, by all means add those into the comments as well. Members of the Exchange Team read the column and will see the comments, so be generous with your praise and professional in the way you offer suggestions. Who knows, you might be able to contribute to future Exchange feature sets.

J. Peter Bruzzese is a six-time-awarded Microsoft MVP, currently for Office Servers and Services and previously for Exchange/Office 365. He is a technical speaker and author with more than a dozen books sold internationally. He's the co-founder of ClipTraining, the creator of ConversationalGeek.com, instructor on Exchange/Office 365 video content for Pluralsight, and a consultant for Mimecast and others.